Continuing Low Carb Adventures

It's been two weeks tomorrow since I started the low-carb diet.  Last week I wasn't as strict as I was the first week.  I let a few carbs in, especially some mashed potatoes (can't have Dutch oven chicken without them), and on Tuesday I visited my mom.  When mom puts a homemade meat pie in front of you, you have to eat it.  Then on Friday we went out to dinner.  I ordered fajitas.  I used two of the flour tortillas, but had no rice, so the meal was meat, onions, green peppers, guacamole, salsa and sour cream, plus the two tortillas.  On Sunday we had a big family dinner and I had my first slice of bread in nearly two weeks.  Tomorrow morning I'm planning on steel cut oatmeal for breakfast.  After 14 days I'm sick of eggs.

The cravings for refined carbs are almost gone.  My weight has dropped a little, maybe four lbs., hardly the 10-15 touted by the South Beach diet in the first two weeks.  My energy is pretty good; I'm not feeling the blood sugar drop around 10:30 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon like I did.  I'm still hungry, but it isn't killing me.  Once again, though, the real test is coming on August 17 when I have blood drawn for my annual physical and we see what cholesterol, triglycerides, fat and the other blood chemistry looks like.

Weekend Update

Friday and Saturday were new challenges on my low-carb diet.  Friday I went to Burley to watch Jeff race in the Spudman triathlon.  He did well, finishing 9th in his age group.  He completed the Olympic distance, a total of 32 miles, in about the same time I finished the Salem sprint triathlon, which is roughly half as far.

Anyway, it was a challenge food-wise because again I was eating out.  For dinner Friday we went to a place and I had the salad bar -- not too difficult.  Breakfast on Saturday was whatever we brought because we camped in the park next to the Snake River.  I brought some granola bars, which was cheating because granola is a grain and not allowed on this diet in the first two weeks.  But it was that or starve.  I also had some vegetable chips to munch on.  They are almost as good as potato chips, but without the salt and potatoes.  These are things like beets, sliced squash, green beans and carrots that have been dried and toasted.  As a treat for dinner I grilled a couple of filet mignon with corn (also a little bit of a cheat, since corn isn't allowed), cucumbers and onions and tomatoes.  Lunch today was a green salad with turkey and cheese.  Tonight we're having Dutch oven chicken, mashed potatoes (which I won't eat), squash and salad.

All in all, things are not going too badly at this point.  I've lost 3 lbs since Tuesday but the more important factor is what this is doing to my blood chemistry, which I won't know until my physical on August 17.  The point of this diet is primarily to lower total cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar.  Weight loss is secondary but the only way of keep score is on the scales for now.

Eating out and Parties

Yesterday was a big day for my low/no carb diet. Lunch was with a group I belong to at their weekly luncheon. The menu was only three items. I decided the chicken linguini with Alfredo sauce was not a good choice. I don't remember the third choice, but I went with the schnitzel. It's a breaded piece of pork with vegetables and mashed potatoes. I ignored the bread basket and left all the potatoes on my plate. Then to dinner, which was a picnic for our son and his wife who are leaving for medical school next week. Hamburger with no bun, no potato or pasta salad, no dessert (pies, cobbler, cookies, cake). I did have a few potato chips, which are always my downfall, but far fewer than I normally would eat.


So far the diet is tolerable. I wouldn't say it's not hard at all, because it is. I just finished my lunch and am still hungry. But I found a couple of low carb recipes for Southwestern chicken and homemade refried beans. You can see them here:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/maindishes/r/greenchilechick.htm

and here:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbsidedishes/r/refriedbeans.htm

The only changes I made were to the beans. Fry the bacon then crumble it into the beans. It's too much trouble to cut it into small pieces first. And mash the beans with a potato masher or fork before putting them in the pan. I fried them in a little bacon grease. They were delicious and very filling.

Low Carb Diets

Yesterday I started a low-carb diet.  I've done this before without much success, but I figured that since I'm still stuck at the same weight I've been at for the last three years, since I don't like how I look or feel, since my annual physical is coming up in mid-August and I know I'll be told "loose weight, cut down on carbs," and since, finally, I don't want more medications (had some problems a few years back and the dosage had to be lowered) I would try again.

Yesterday wasn't too bad.  I don't think I packed enough food for the day, though.  At lunch I worked out with weights and took a brisk 20 minute walk to keep the HR up.  By the time evening came and I was making hamburger patties, sauteed veggies (onions, mushrooms and green peppers in olive oil and a little butter) and steamed cauliflower, I could tell I was low on blood sugar.  My attitude sucked, to put it bluntly.  After dinner Nancy and I went to the rec center and rode the stationary bikes for 30 minutes.  I felt pretty good.  Ate a piece of cheese about 9:30.

This morning was horrible.  I felt light-headed right after breakfast (a two-egg omelette with ham, cheese and mushrooms and 6 oz of vegetable juice).  I was definitely hypoglycemic.  About 11:00 I started to feel better and did another fast walk of about 35 minutes on lunch break.  By the end I had definitely bonked -- run out of glycogen.  But after eating lunch (leftovers from last night plus some cucumbers and onions) I felt better all afternoon.

It isn't until you actually cut out carbs that you realize how much of our diet is made up of them:  Bread, potatoes, pasta, cereal, rice, just to name a few of the main ones.  Then add all the fruits that have too much sugar to qualify as low carb (oranges, tangerines, plums, cherries) and even carrots and suddenly the food universe has shrunk.  On the South Beach diet, the one I'm starting with, for the first two weeks carbs are severely restricted.  None of the usual carbs, no fruit of any kind, no carrots.  Is this fun or what?

I Wasn't DNF!

The triathlon was yesterday and I wasn't DNF (did not finish).  From about 100 yards into the swim until the start of the run, there was a lot of doubt about whether I would finish or not.  The swim was every bit as bad as I remember them to be.  The water was icy but the wetsuit kept me warm.  However, the wetsuit also constricts breathing and just as with the two other open water swim triathlons I've done, after about 100 yards I felt like I couldn't breathe.  I breast-stroked some, dog-paddled some, actually swam some, and when I was able to swim made good time. 

Then on to the bike, where about 1/4 mile into it there was a nasty uphill that caught everyone off guard.  At the top of that I told myself "I can't do this again."  For the rest of the first lap (there were two, so the climb was coming around again) I tried to think what would be the best way to quit.  After one lap on the bike and do the run?  After two laps on the bike and no run?  On the way down to T2 (or the start of lap 2) they were waving me to the left, thinking I had finished the bike.  Suddenly I moved into the right lane and started lap 2.  This time I geared down before the hill, which made it only slightly more tolerable.  With 2 miles to go, I started enjoying the bike, telling myself that my race was done as soon as I got back.  It was a leisurely ride through Salem on a beautiful spring day.


As I approached T2, ready to quit, the family was there cheering me on.  Brad racked my bike, Melinda took pictures, I got Gatorade and Brad led me onto the run course.  My race wasn't quite over.  About a mile into the run some children had a make-shift aid station where they were handing out water.  We chatted for a few seconds, I thanked them for being there and then went on. There were three people behind me that I could see.  All three were doing versions of a walk-run and soon caught me.  At the only official aid station, they passed me.  The volunteers encouraged me on.  About five minutes later, they passed me in a pickup with the aid station taken down.  I was the last runner.

I kept the other runners/walkers in sight though they pulled steadily ahead of me.  I tried running a bit, but it was no use.  Finally the finish line came into sight and I did run the last 100 yards for the sake of the paperazzi that had waited patiently for me to finish.  It was a brutal two hours and sixteen minutes.  Whether I do another one is an open question.  I would like to overcome my dislike of the swim and do it the way I know I can.  Now that good weather is here, the possibility of actually training is better.  We'll see.

Anyway, I was number 200 out of 200 finishers.  There were 204 starters.  I was not among the four DNFs.  My day was better than theirs.

The Hour of Reckoning is at Hand

June 4 seemed so far away back in December when I foolishly signed up for the Salem Spring triathlon.  I thought there was plenty of time to get in shape for an 800-yard swim, 12-mile bike ride and 5k run.  And there was.  But life got in the way, not to mention the weather.  Strangely enough, I am looking forward to tomorrow.  I have my rented wetsuit, the one that makes me look like a baby seal, all fat and black.  The swim is actually the leg I feel most confident about.  I've swum 900 yards continuous, so I have the distance down.  The only thing that worries me is the wetsuit.  They are tight and constrict your chest, making it feel like you can't get enough air.  Couple that with having your face in the water and being surrounded by a dozen flailing human seals and it makes for a disconcerting experience.  My strategy is to start at the back of the wave I'm in, and take it slow, hoping I don't get overtaken by the elite women who will be starting five minutes after me.

The bike should be my friend, but the weather has kept me indoors most of the spring.  My longest bike ride outside has been about 14 miles, hardly the stuff to inspire confidence on the bike.  My strategy here is a steady, 14 mph pace that will let me finish in about 50 minutes.  Then it's on to the run, or in my case, the brisk walk.

For whatever reason, my VO2 max (the rate at which I can utilize oxygen to burn fuel) is low and I hit it almost as soon as I move from a walk to a jog, or even a shuffle.  My heart rate zooms up near its max, which is an unsustainable pace for anyone for more than a few hundred yards.  So my "run" strategy is a fast walk that keeps my heart rate in the aerobic zone and lets me continue at that pace for the entire 5k.  Overall this will be faster than running at 11:00 min/mile for say two minutes and then walking for 3-4 minutes to recover.

Depending on whether all my stars align tomorrow or not, I may finish under two hours.  That's my goal, a sub-2 hour sprint triathlon.

Tune in tomorrow for results.

Training? We don't need no stinking training

So this blog has not quite lived up to expectations about training for the upcoming (3 weeks!) Salem Spring triathlon.  I remember now why training is so hard.  Something called life gets in the way.

For starters, as you all know, I had pneumonia in January.  So in February I started training.  I followed the periodization system, where you start out with endurance training at relatively low (65%-70% MHR) levels.  That went well for about 8 weeks until the end of March, when my father died unexpectedly.  Training got derailed in dealing with all that entails.  Then there was the weather.  A wet, cold spring that lingers to today has kept me off the roads for cycling or running except for exactly twice.  I did ride my bike to work last Friday, the first really nice spring day.  The pull up 6200 South almost did me in.  My heart rate was pushing 150+, very near my max.  It might have hit my max of 162; I didn't stop to count heartbeats.

I have been running on a treadmill and cycling on the stationary bike, but that isn't the same.  I've tried to incorporate some interval training, where you up the intensity for brief periods, raising your heart rate, then back off for a few minutes to recover, and then do it again. 

What I'm really hoping for, in terms of the Salem tri, is a couple of good weeks riding to work to get my cycling legs really working better.  The swim is the only thing coming on schedule.  As for the run, well, the run and I have never been friends, so I might take the run's ugly stepsister, the walk, to the triathlon.